MATCHWATCH : Watford (a)

[Notts Royal]

The lack of tempo in the second half, as well as the all-round poor final balls & finishing, showed up a lack of conviction. Gibson & Ejaria together was asking for trouble down the left: one too slow, one prone to losing concentration. Reminiscent of the Esteves/Aluko disaster combo in the Bournemouth away game.

The next two games are probably must-win, now. Pauno needs to inspire some belief, right now. Playing wide players on the same side as their strong foot might come in handy, too.

This is a very valid point. The modern game sees the wider players playing on their weak side so they can cut in and shoot. But I still think there’s greater worth in them being able to take it past the full back, hit the byline and put in a decent cross/cut back to the striker(s). Not sure why the fashion changed but would be interested to know what is the more effective approach. It’s likely just changed the type of player we now see. Meite has cut in and scored some goals but clearly can’t cross. I’m not convinced he’d supply many good crosses if he was played on the left. And Ejaria would be no better on the right

[Zip]

I admire your positivity Stranded. I wish Pauno was more willing to freshen things up when we look tired. It has become noticeable how much we drop off in the latter stages of matches. Yet there are bench options.
He can learn from this season but it is going to be a tricky summer. We will lose Olise and Richards. There will be little money to replace them.

[yuomi]

I admire your positivity Stranded. I wish Pauno was more willing to freshen things up when we look tired. It has become noticeable how much we drop off in the latter stages of matches. Yet there are bench options.
He can learn from this season but it is going to be a tricky summer. We will lose Olise and Richards. There will be little money to replace them.

It's not the place for this conversation but there is a division/league-wide financial reckoning on the way if the EFL don't ease up on or scrap FFP for this term due to Covid. I still think that will happen and come to our aid in the summer. Whether Dai stick around and still wants to invest after we finish 7th or 8th is another question entirely.

Even as the bench has improved Pauno is still unwilling to use it. Nov-March the quality of subs we had was typically so poor I could see his point, but it seem he just genuinely doesn't know how or when to make a change, and still persists with the idea that Baldock can do...well, anything. Hard to remember when i've been more excited to see the back of a player.

As for last night, take x2 worldies and moments of typical Everton loanee sabotage out of the equation and they were there for the taking in the first half. Yaks seems to be off his hot streak and back to overenthusastcally jackrabbiting balls high or wide and Puscas' miss sums him up perfectly. Gibson would struggle to get a start in L1. Still, show that same first half energy everywhere except maybe Norwich (depending how on the beach they are) and I still think there's a very minimal chance.

[Notts Royal]

I'm going (Edge)Lord CKS.

@paunoreadingfc looks like he's deactivated his account unsurprisingly.

Ah, the one that was the dreadfully unfunny Alan Partridge talks account.

If you're reading this (Edge)Lord CKS I'm sorry for accusing you. You're still a hateful angry little oxf*rd though.

Yes Lord CKS is a disgrace. Never seen anything positive come from him, always doom & gloom. Must be a right misery to live with

[Sutekh]

I think given the injuries it’s borderline miraculous we’ve maintained our top 6 position for quite as long, no team has any right to win promotion playing Semedo as an attacking midfielder and an inexperienced centre back at right back for most the season

We’ve done incredibly well given the circumstances. Should we fail to go up it will definitely feel like the one that got away.

Injuries
Failure to recruit in January
Managerial mistakes
Costly misses

These could well be the defining features of this season in the end. Any omission or mitigation of anyone of the above and we would most likely have been competing for automatic promotion.

It’s a shame, but it’s not over until the fat lady sings. I’m still optimistic that we can do it, and if we can we will be in great form and potentially have Swift back.

Agreed. Constant injuries to some fairly key players have wrecked this season. Swift in particular getting no more than a handful of games robbed the club of a lot of creativity and someone with reasonably consistent end product at set pieces. This was then consolidated by the awful January window when Reading really needed to bring at least 2 in but did naff all.

However Reading haven’t helped themselves in previous years by recruiting players who all do the same sort of thing and therefore have no plan B.

Manager has been great in terms of focus, positivity, encouraging belief, bringing youngsters through but is lacking, imo, a little in the ability to be flexible to the way other clubs set up during a match and is too negative at times (eg Wycombe away) in team selection and substitutions. Would expect to see him improving in this area over the season so let’s see how he progresses next season.

If Reading stay in the Championship I would perhaps suggest the summer needs to be used to regroup somewhat and perhaps sacrifice some (like Olise and Puscas) to bring in finance for players that can offer more in the way VP wants the team to play and provide better options overall.

Key positions to recruit are both left and right back, Joao cover, at least one winger and perhaps a box to box midfielder with a bit of pace and a tackle on him.

Finally the talented younger players coming through at the moment have been a real bright spark and something very positive for the future if they can live up to their early promise. Be good if Reading could find an outstanding striker in the Academy next though

[Stranded]

I admire your positivity Stranded. I wish Pauno was more willing to freshen things up when we look tired. It has become noticeable how much we drop off in the latter stages of matches. Yet there are bench options.
He can learn from this season but it is going to be a tricky summer. We will lose Olise and Richards. There will be little money to replace them.

Nothing to do with positivity, just long past the point of getting upset or wound up by football. It's meant to be fun, this season has been and looking at the possibilities is just part of the fun.

[biff]

Thought I'd just share what was actually said in case anyone is in any doubt that it's "an overblown lefty reaction" (im looking at you Kuntbota). Made me sick to my stomach and the police have been notified. This is why we kneel.

[Snowball]

I think given the injuries it’s borderline miraculous we’ve maintained our top 6 position for quite as long, no team has any right to win promotion playing Semedo as an attacking midfielder and an inexperienced centre back at right back for most the season

We’ve done incredibly well given the circumstances. Should we fail to go up it will definitely feel like the one that got away.

Injuries
Failure to recruit in January
Managerial mistakes
Costly misses

I had most of the data yesterday, updated it for this game.

Here are the main players in terms of percentage of time on the pitch

Our two DM's top the list but only yesterday's game got our
captain past 2/3 of possible minutes, and Morrison has
missed almost 20% of minutes and will end up on 25%

For two experienced defenders to be out that much is TOUGH!

I would say our "First" back Four is Yiadom, Moore, Morrison, Richards

These have played


29% Yiadom
69% Moore
79% Richards
83% Morrison

No idea, what the stat is for games where all four have started and finished
but I suspect it is horribly low. I know Holmes, McIntyre stepped in (and Esteves
and Gibson) but, well though some played some of the time, all four have
blundered and cost points. That isn't any disrespect esp Holmes-McIntyre
who I very much hope will be first on the team-sheet for the next five seasons.

SWIFT is surely an almost auto-choice yet he wallows down the bottom on 15%
And I was very surprised to see Joao has missed almost a quarter of the season
(yet still scored 19 League goals). (Yes, I'm aware he is currently out-of-form)

Meite has missed 63% of the season, more or less two-thirds
Puscas has missed 81%

No doubt other sides have missed important players too,
but in the cold light of day, this does look overwhelming.

Surely with our best 11/12/13/14 fit all season we'd be at least top three?

40 00 40 3,555 97.13% Josh Laurent
37 01 38 3,208 87.65% Andy Rinomhota
35 00 35 3,045 83.20% Michael Morrison
33 06 39 2,933 80.14% Michael Olise
33 03 36 2,888 78.91% Omar Richards
33 01 34 2,832 77.38% Ove Ejaria
33 03 36 2,831 77.35% Lucas Joao
28 00 28 2,514 68.69% Liam Moore
25 09 34 2,296 62.73% Tom Holmes
23 12 35 1,992 54.43% Alfa Semedo
16 10 26 1,555 42.49% Tom McIntyre
15 05 20 1,352 36.94% Yakou Meite
12 15 27 1,110 30.33% Tomas Esteves
13 03 16 1,094 29.89% Andy Yiadom
09 21 30 0,969 26.48% Sone Aluko
08 10 18 0,728 19.89% George Puscas
06 05 11 0,650 17.76% Lewis Gibson
07 02 09 0,563 15.38% John Swift
04 14 18 0,499 13.63% Sam Baldock

[Snowflake Royal]

I admire your positivity Stranded. I wish Pauno was more willing to freshen things up when we look tired. It has become noticeable how much we drop off in the latter stages of matches. Yet there are bench options.
He can learn from this season but it is going to be a tricky summer. We will lose Olise and Richards. There will be little money to replace them.

Nothing to do with positivity, just long past the point of getting upset or wound up by football. It's meant to be fun, this season has been and looking at the possibilities is just part of the fun.

I couldn't agree with you when talking about the managerial change in the summer, or where we've been as a shambles at the bottom. But as soon as we're out of struggling in the bottom 8 and not sacking managers after less than 1 season who have done a decent job, I'm absolutely on board.

I struggle to see why the Dai's would be about to walk away either.

They've gone from running a club that was struggling to avoid relegation, to safely mid-table, to pushing for a play off place. Maybe it's not quite the immediate and spectacular turn around and triumph they might hope for. But IMO the way we improved under Bowen and now Pauno appears far more sustainable than the good blip we had under Stam.

We've got a good young squad with lots of potential and time on their side. We may well lose a few players, but very few should go cheaply. We've got a strong XI and some decent depth rather than a host of no hopers, serial losers and can't be arseders. The last of the deadweight should be gone this summer.

As with every summer, we'll need to see how it goes to see if we have a chance of pushing on further. But I'd be confident this side shouldn't fall back down the table like a dart next season. Target would be promotion. Top 10 would be a reasonable success and 14th and above would be tolerable after recent years.

Every season there's always next season. Give yourself a platform to build from and you always have a chance. Sadly, we've singularly failed to do that for a quite a few of the last years.

[Snowball]

Despite individual defensive errors, or slightly not-quite-good-enough closing down stuff
we have to say that our relative fall from grace has been because our talisman-striker
has been abducted by aliens and replaced with an IKEA-made robot with rubbish software.

Yes, I know he got 18 prior to going off the boil, but those misses, those pens, they really hurt.

This is not a "pile-on" Lucas post. Spread over the season he has done his job.

BUT

I didn't say this when he scored v Derby (felt like the wrong time) but did anyone
else think his shot was going to go wide before it was deflected in?

Next big question, this summer, would you sell Joao? Would you sell Puscas?

[Snowball]

I see Watford had TWO shots on target, two goals,
versus our five on target, plus hitting the post.

That means Rafael didn't make a single save?

[Westwood52]

No blame can attach to Pauno;but the acquisition of Gibson and Estevez has really screwed us over.Both were young kids totally unprepared for the Championship.Thus when injuries kicked in,both were unable to step up.We should have gone for a couple of experienced L1 pros.I wonder who made the decision on the two kids .We got badly burned with Virginia and should have learned the lesson then.

[Zip]

I would keep both Joao and Puscas. No need to sell either if we get big money for Olise.
Look to keep Morrison, McIntyre, Southwood and Tetek from those out of contract in the summer. Offload the rest which creates space for more signings. I wouldn’t want any of the loanees back.

[Millsy]

I'm sorry, what?

Oh, you're querying must-win, ok.

Maybe I'm wrong, was that not pretty much must-win, or at least must not lose?

We'd be quite happy to see out a defeat?

When you looked at our run in and selected games we would likely get points from, this wouldn’t have featured in many rational people’s predictions.

We could have won.
We probably wouldn’t have
We didn’t.

It’s not that deep and if we don’t make the playoffs it won’t be because lost to the team with the best defensive record in the division.

Yes yes ageed of course but what's that to do with what we do on the day!?? and my question of why we seemed not to go 4-4-2 much earlier than 88mins? You're saying it's because we weren't expecting a win anyway?

Are you suggesting the reason why we didn't try harder to get a point or three from that game is because most rational people would have expected a defeat so we were just happy with that? The players certainly didn't feel that way as they kept trying so something clearly wasn't communicated if that was the gameplan!

Even a point from a draw would be absolutely critical. So I still don't see a reason Pauno would, at 2-0 down, at this stage of the season where every point is absolutely cricital, not at least try to be a bit more gung ho with Puscas and Joao up front especially after they very effectively blocked our style of play in the second half. Why did it take him until the 88min to go 2 up top.. and with whom, his only option then was flipping Baldock!!!

Talk about locking the door after the horse has bolted!

Don't worry I'm not saying Pauno out at all, but this was just bizarre to me.

[Zip]

Thought I'd just share what was actually said in case anyone is in any doubt that it's "an overblown lefty reaction" (im looking at you Kuntbota). Made me sick to my stomach and the police have been notified. This is why we kneel.

Amen to that. I feel very sorry that our Captain has to read that kind of abusive stuff.
Karbota. Do you agree?

[Hendo]

I think it might be the same person who set up the Twitter account last year that was “tweeting Liam Moore every day until he leaves” or something like that.

Hopefully it’ll come to light who is hiding behind these pathetic accounts, the police get involved and the club give him a lifetime ban.

[Snowball]

Oh, you're querying must-win, ok.

Maybe I'm wrong, was that not pretty much must-win, or at least must not lose?

We'd be quite happy to see out a defeat?

When you looked at our run in and selected games we would likely get points from, this wouldn’t have featured in many rational people’s predictions.

We could have won.
We probably wouldn’t have
We didn’t.

It’s not that deep and if we don’t make the playoffs it won’t be because lost to the team with the best defensive record in the division.

Yes yes ageed of course but what's that to do with what we do on the day!?? and my question of why we seemed not to go 4-4-2 much earlier than 88mins? You're saying it's because we weren't expecting a win anyway?

Are you suggesting the reason why we didn't try harder to get a point or three from that game is because most rational people would have expected a defeat so we were just happy with that? The players certainly didn't feel that way as they kept trying so something clearly wasn't communicated if that was the gameplan!

Even a point from a draw would be absolutely critical. So I still don't see a reason Pauno would, at 2-0 down, at this stage of the season where every point is absolutely cricital, not at least try to be a bit more gung ho with Puscas and Joao up front especially after they very effectively blocked our style of play in the second half. Why did it take him until the 88min to go 2 up top.. and with whom, his only option then was flipping Baldock!!!

Talk about locking the door after the horse has bolted!

Don't worry I'm not saying Pauno out at all, but this was just bizarre to me.

Manager basically said they were knackered after giving all from 13-45 minutes

After that, going Gung-Ho might have meant a 5-0 defeat.

A 2-0 defeat is not the end of the world if we can win our three home games
and maybe other teams will still screw up. For one thing, they play each other

[Snowball]

After another hour (so people have seen it)
can we delete the N-word post, please?

And please don't quote it either

[Ascotexgunner]

I think it might be the same person who set up the Twitter account last year that was “tweeting Liam Moore every day until he leaves” or something like that.

Hopefully it’ll come to light who is hiding behind these pathetic accounts, the police get involved and the club give him a lifetime ban.

God I hope so.....the authorities need to start acting tough and throwing the book at these people. They are filth.

[CountryRoyal]

When you looked at our run in and selected games we would likely get points from, this wouldn’t have featured in many rational people’s predictions.

We could have won.
We probably wouldn’t have
We didn’t.

It’s not that deep and if we don’t make the playoffs it won’t be because lost to the team with the best defensive record in the division.

Yes yes ageed of course but what's that to do with what we do on the day!?? and my question of why we seemed not to go 4-4-2 much earlier than 88mins? You're saying it's because we weren't expecting a win anyway?

Are you suggesting the reason why we didn't try harder to get a point or three from that game is because most rational people would have expected a defeat so we were just happy with that? The players certainly didn't feel that way as they kept trying so something clearly wasn't communicated if that was the gameplan!

Even a point from a draw would be absolutely critical. So I still don't see a reason Pauno would, at 2-0 down, at this stage of the season where every point is absolutely cricital, not at least try to be a bit more gung ho with Puscas and Joao up front especially after they very effectively blocked our style of play in the second half. Why did it take him until the 88min to go 2 up top.. and with whom, his only option then was flipping Baldock!!!

Talk about locking the door after the horse has bolted!

Don't worry I'm not saying Pauno out at all, but this was just bizarre to me.

Manager basically said they were knackered after giving all from 13-45 minutes

After that, going Gung-Ho might have meant a 5-0 defeat.

A 2-0 defeat is not the end of the world if we can win our three home games
and maybe other teams will still screw up. For one thing, they play each other

Yeah this basically. They ran out of steam and energy. Sure going 2 up top earlier might have changed the game but it also might not have.

Look at how Brentford panned out. We played at such an intensity, still lost and then turned into dogshite for the next month or so.